Five Stories To Start Your Day (Friday, Dec. 30th, 2016)

Plastic Rice not plastic after all (NAFDAC report): Recent reports of plastic rice in Nigeria were untrue as the suspicious shipment merely contained a significant amount of contaminants, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has said.The acting Director-General of the agency, Yetunde Oni, at a press briefing on Thursday in Abuja, said though the rice was found not to be plastic, contrary to media reports, it was still “unwholesome for human consumption”.There was anxiety in country earlier this month when a report stated that the Nigerian Custom Services had intercepted tonnes of plastic rice allegedly imported by unscrupulous businessmen for distribution during the Christmas festive period.Culled: Premiumtimes.ng

Sultan of Sokoto rejects gender equality bill: Nigeria’s most senior Muslim cleric has rejected a new gender equality bill, which proposes that women and men inherit an equal share.The Sultan of Sokoto, Mohamed Sa’ad Abubakar, said Muslims would not accept the violation of Islamic law guaranteeing men a greater share.Nigeria’s main Christian body has welcomed the bill, saying its religion permitted equal inheritance.

Activists have pushed for the bill to end discrimination against women.“If you indeed crushed us, how can you see me like this? How many times have you killed us in your bogus death?” he asked.Culled: bbc.com

Sand Eagles ranked 20th (FIFA World Rankings): Nigeria beach soccer national team have moved up 10 places to the 20th position in the overall world ranking released by the Beach Soccer World Wide for December 2016.The Supersand Eagles who were previously ranked 30th in the world rose up thanks to their second place finish at the 2016 African Beach Soccer Cup of Nations in Lagos which qualified them for the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in the Bahamas.Culled: thisdaylive.com

Twin female suicide attack fail: A FEMALE suicide bomber detonated her explosives at the Kasuwan Shanu cattle market in the Kasuwa district of Maiduguri in Nigeria’s Borno state on 26 December causing no further casualties, Reuters reported. Shortly afterwards, a second female suicide bomber was killed after being lynched by a crowd of people near the market. Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, Wilayat Gharb Afriqiyya was suspected to have conducted the attacks.Culled: janes.com